USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Blair County, Pennsylvania > Part 29
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Joseph K. Cass received his education at Kenyon college, from which institution he was graduated in the classical course of the class of 1868. Leaving college he engaged in civil engineering, was employed for four years in railroad work throughout western Michigan, and then came to Pittsburg, this State, where he served for three years in the general office of the Panhandle Railroad Company. At the end of that time he re- linquished civil engineering to embark in the manufacture of paper. He formed a partnership with J. S. Morrison and D. M. Bare, under the firm name of Morrison, Bare & Cass, and they operated. a large plant in Roaring Springs until 1880, when the increase of their trade necessitated the erection of the Tyrone plant. In 1886 the company dissolved, and the Tyrone plant became the property of Morrison and Cass, who operated it under the firm name of Morrison & Cass until October, 1890, when
it became the property of a stock company, under the present title of the Morrison & Cass Paper Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Cass is the largest stockholder, and has been president since its organiza- tion. The plant covers three and one-half acres of land, has a capacity of twenty-two tons of printing paper from the fibre of wood per day, and employs one hundred and fifty hands. It is at the north end of town, fronting five hundred feet on Main street. The main buildings, two stories in height, are in the form of a hollow square, and are: Alkali building; engine house, containing washing, bleaching, and sizing engines, wet machines, and Jordon engines; machine building, 55 x 120 feet; boiler house ; and evaporator building.
On February 19, 1879, Mr. Cass married Sarah, daughter of John Anderson, of Co- shocton, Ohio, and to their union have been born four children, two sons and two daughters : Charles A., Margaret K., Joseph K., jr., and Anna S.
In addition to paper manufacturing, Joseph K. Cass is interested in several other business enterprises, and has been for some time president of the Solar & Carbon Manufacturing Company, of Pittsburg. He is also president of the First National bank of Tyrone, succeeding in that office his partner, Mr. Morrison, who died in three months after the organization of the bank, in 1890. Mr. Cass is a pleasant, courteous, and intelligent gentleman, and, though un- assuming, yet is firm and decided in any course of action upon which he has resolved after due consideration. Joseph K. Cass has been for the past decade a prominent factor in the active business life of Tyrone, where he has well performed the duties of good citizenship.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
č AMES PATTERSON, who saw a quar- ter of a century of active business life on the old Pennsylvania canal, and who, since 1876, has been successfully engaged in the grocery, undertaking, grain and lum- ber business at Williamsburg, is a son of Henry and Letitia ( Early ) Patterson, and was born at Maghera, county Derry, Ire- land, November 25, 1826. His paternal grandfather, James Patterson, was a native of Scotland, and during a time of religious persecution in that country, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, he removed to Maghera, county Derry, Ireland, where he followed farming until 1825, when he died, at the age of fifty-five years. His son, Henry Patterson ( father), was born at Maghera about the year 1800, and died at the same place in 1865. IIe followed farmi- ing until 1835, was then employed by the Ilome Mission society in counties Armagh, Derry and Donegal, for ten years, and at the end of that time engaged in farming and dealing in grain, which business he pursued until his death. He married Leti- tia Early, who died in 1850, at forty-eight years of age, and left a family of ten chil- dren, of whom the subject of this sketch is the second. Mrs. Patterson's father, John Early, was born in Scotland, which land he left on account of religious persecutions, and settled at Tubemore, county Derry, Ireland, where he followed farming until his death.
James Patterson was reared at Maghera, received his education in the schools of that town, and assisted his father on the farm until he attained his majority, excepting a few months spent in a visit to Scotland, the land of his forefathers. At twenty-one years of age, in 1848, he left Ireland for the United States, and after a voyage of six weeks ar- rived at New York, from which place he
went to Philadelphia, where he learned the trade of carpet weaver. Two years' work at carpet weaving so impaired his health, by close confinement, that he sought for physi- cal recuperation by out-door labor, and en- gaged in boating on the old canals between Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Baltimore, which he followed for twenty-five years, the last eight years of which time he ran a wholesale grocery boat between Philadel- phia and Hollidaysburg. The next year (1877), after leaving the canal, Mr. Patter- son continued to make Williamsburg his home, and established his present grocery business and continued the undertaking business. In the same year he formed a part- nership with George Fay, under the firm name of Fay & Patterson, and they dealt in lumber, grain and coal until January 8, 1892, when they dissolved partnership, and Mr. Patterson purchased his partner's in- terest, and has continued successfully in business since.
On April 21, 1859, Mr. Patterson married Rebecca, daughter of David W. Vinacke, of Williamsburg, who is fourteen years younger than her husband. To their union have been born twelve children : Mollie, Clara, Samuel, Jennie, Charles, Georgie, and George, who are dead; and Annie, Flor- ence, James, Rose, and Franklin, still living.
James Patterson was a democrat until 1884, sinch which time he has been an active prohibitionist. He is a deacon of the Williamsburg Presbyterian church, of which all of his family, except the younger children, are members. Mr. Patterson has been for several years a member of Orphan Home Lodge, No. 315, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a trustworthy gen- tleman, thoroughly reliable and highly es- teemed.
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
G ERMAIN CASANAVE, owner of the
Casanave business block, and the pro- prietor of the largest and leading saddlery establishment of Altoona and central Penn- sylvania, was born at Escot, France, April 23, 1848, and is a son of John F. and Julia (Casaurancq ) Casanave. John F. Casanave was a native and life-long resident of France, where his active years were spent as a school teacher in the established public schools of that country. In religion he was a member of the Catholic church, in whose faith he had been reared, and died in 1887, when well advanced in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He married Julia Casau- rancq, who, like himself, was a native of France and a member of the same church. She died in France in 1886, aged fifty-five years. They were the parents of eight children, three sons and five daughters. One of their sons, Francis D. Casanave, learned the trade of machinist, and in 1863 came to the United States, where he is now resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, at which place he is superintendent of the motive power of the Pennsylvania Company.
Germain Casanave was reared in the land of his nativity, and received his education in the efficient schools of his province. Leaving school he learned the trade of har- ness maker and saddler, and in 1870 came to Pennsylvania, where, during the spring of the next year, he commenced for himself, in Altoona, in the harness and saddlery business. Since then he has enlarged his establishment, which is situated at No. 1328 Eleventh avenue, and added to his stock until he now is recognized as the leading representative in his line of business in the county. His extensive stock consists of double and single harness, both heavy and light, bridles, saddles, collars, whips, robes
blankets, brushes, nets, and horse clothing of every description and of the best work- manship. Anything in his line of business is made to order, and all kinds of repairing is done with neatness and dispatch under his personal supervision. He makes. a spe- cialty of fine harness, and by first-class work and fair dealing has made his establishment the favorite source of supply for an exten- sive section of country around Altoona. He also fills many orders from a distance, and his establishment is the oldest of its kind in Altoona.
On February 21, 1878, Mr. Casanave married Mary M., daughter of Nicholas Kurtz, of Altoona. She died October 24, 1886, and left four children, three sons and one daughter: Nicholas J., Anthony J., Joseph D., and Mary J.
Germain Casanave is a democrat in poli- ties, but no politician, and is a member of St. John's Catholic church. He has always manifested a deep interest in the welfare and prosperity of his adopted city, and has just completed the erection, on Eleventh street, of the Casanave block, one of the largest and most handsome brick business blocks of Altoona. Mr. Casanave is a man of fine business qualifications, of persistent energy, and unusual success in life, and stands high as a citizen of the county.
T. M. T. SYMINGTON, proprietor of the oldest wall paper and paint store in Tyrone, and a man who has been con- nected with the business interests of the town during its entire history, is a son of IIenry and Helen ( Hunter ) Symington, and was born in Yorkshire, England, December 25, 1819. ITis father, Henry Symington, was a native of Eaton, Scotland, but re-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
moved to Yorkshire, England, where he died December 26, 1879. He was a paper manufacturer, and followed that occupation nearly all his life. He married Helen Hun- ter, by whom he had a family of nine chil- dren, consisting of five sons and four daughters. Three of the sons emigrated to America. James came in 1837, and settled on Mill creek, Huntingdon county, Penn- sylvania, where he died. Daniel H. came in 1849, and located at Waldenbridge, near Newburg, Orange county, New York, where he enlisted during the civil war, and after- ward died of disease in the army.
T. M. T. Symington was reared in Eng- land, and received his education in the schools of his native country. During his earlier years he worked in the paper fac- tory and learned that business, but after beginning life for himself he abandoned the paper mill and learned the trade of house painter. He worked at that business for a time in England, but in 1851 came to the United States and purchased a paper mill in Westchester county, New York, which he successfully conducted for some time. In the fall of 1852 he removed to Cincin- nati, Ohio. In 1853 he came to Pennsyl- vania, and locating at Tyrone, this county (then a new but growing village ), he began the business of house painting, paper hang- ing, and dealing in paints, oils, varnish, wall paper, and trimmings. He has followed this business ever since. When Mr. Sym- ington settled in Tyrone the town contained less than a score of houses, and he has been identified with its growth and development for a period of nearly forty years.
On May day, 1855, Mr. Symington was wedded to Panina A. Miles, a daughter of William W. Miles, of Tyrone. In 1868, and again in 1889, Mr. and Mrs. Symington
visited England and spent considerable time in that country, returning in each instance during the following year. They have an adopted son, Thomas O., who married Car- rie Vosburg, and is now engaged in the wall paper business at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Politically Mr. Symington was a demo- crat after coming to the United States, but during his visit to Europe he studied the. situation in England and investigated the operations of the tariff laws, and the result . was that he returned to his American home a firm believer in the doctrine of protection, and has ever since been an ardent republi- can and an enthusiastic admirer of James G. Blaine. He is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, with which he has been connected for many years.
Mr. Symington's family name was origi- nally Dickson, but during the wars of Bruce and Wallace, for deeds of valor it was changed to Symington.
JESSE L. HARTMAN, one of the most active business men of Hollidaysburg, and the present prothonotary of Blair county, is a son of Benjamin and Penina M. (Wilson ) Hartman, and was born at Cot- tage postoffice, Huntingdon county, Penn- sylvania, June 18, 1853. His paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Hartman, came from Germany in 1775, and settled in Ches- ter county, where he died. His grandson, Benjamin Hartman, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Perry county in 1804. In 1852 he removed to Cottage postoffice, in Huntingdon county, where he acted for several years as postmaster, and was engaged in farming and the general mercantile business. In 1869 he came to Hollidaysburg, but the next year removed
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
to Royer, where he was engaged in farm- ing, and where he died in August, 1880, at the age of seventy-six years. Ile was ener- getic and active in whatever he undertook, and by good judgment and careful manage- ment, always secured fair returns upon his investments. He married Penina M. Wil- son, a native of Stone valley, Huntingdon county, and of a family of nine children she was the first to die, when the youngest was fifty-five years of age. She passed away on New Year's day, 1888, aged seventy-one years. Her father, Thomas Wilson, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of Hunt- ingdon county, where he died in 1862, when in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He was a prosperous farmer, and a descendant of one of the early settled and most substan- tial families of that county.
Jesse L. Hartman was reared on his fath- er's farm until he was fifteen years of age, and received his education in the common and in the graded schools of Martinsburg and Bell's Mills. At fifteen years of age he came to this county, and in the fall of 1872 became a clerk in the store of B. M. John- ston & Co., at their furnace at McKee's Gap. He was successively promoted until he became manager of the store, and in 1878 was appointed general manager of the furnace. Although trying and arduous, he discharged every duty of both these posi- tions until 1891, when he left the employ of the firm, and at the solicitation of many of his friends he allowed his name to be used in connection with the office of prothono- tary. He received the republican nomina- tion for that office, and at the ensuing election was elected by the largest majority given any candidate on the ticket. Since assuming charge of the prothonotary's office he has conducted it upon correct
business principles, and has rendered good satisfaction to all who have had business to transact with the office. Mr. Hartman may well be proud of his remarkable but well deserved political success, and the un- expected majority which he received.
On the 7th of November, 1878, he united in marriage with Ella, daughter of James Denniston, of Hollidaysburg. To them have been born two children : A daughter, who died August 5, 1882; and James D., born May 15, 1880.
Jesse L. Hartman is a republican in poli- ties. He is a member of Woodbury Lodge, No. 539, Free and Accepted Masons ; Moun- tain Commandery, No. 10, Knights Temp- lar, of Altoona; and Syria Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Pittsburg. Although Mr. Hartman withdrew from the employ of Johnston & Co., yet he is still engaged in business, and has considerable interest in the Juniata Gannister Company, which was organized in 1886, when he became one of its stockholders, and was elected manager and treasurer, which positions he has held ever since. Jesse L. Hartman is pleasant and courteous, ever ready to grant a favor, but unbending in anything of principle, and always requiring business to be transacted according to correct methods.
C HARLES B. CLARK, resident of Altoona since 1881, and a member of the Blair county bar, is a son of Warren and Clarissa ( Eno) Clark, and was born in Trumbull county, in the famous " Western Reserve " of Ohio, New Years' day, 1854. The Clarks are of Scotch-Irish Puritan lineage, and Giles Clark, the great-great- grandfather of Charles B. Clark, went, in 1801, to Trumbull county, where he took
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up a large tract of land. His grandson, Henry Clark (grandfather), although born in Connecticut, was reared in the Western Reserve, in Ohio, where he followed farm- ing until his death, in 1866, at sixty-seven years of age. ITis son, Warren Clark (father), was born in Trumbull county in 1826, and in 1870 went to Michigan, which he left four years later to settle at Blairs- ville, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1887. In that year he went to Florida for his health, and in 1890 came to Altoona, where he has resided ever since. Mr. Clark followed carpentering and farming until a few years ago, when he re- tired from all active business pursuits. He was an old-line whig, and when that party went down became a republican. He mar- ried Clarissa Eno, of Trumbull county, Ohio, who was a consistent member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church from early youth to her death, in 1889, when she was in the fifty-eighth year of her age.
Charles B. Clark was reared chiefly in his native county, received his education in the common schools of Ohio, and followed teaching for eight years in the States of Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. During the last three years that he was employed as a teacher he read law, and was admitted to the Indiana county bar September 13, 1880. After admission to the bar, he prac- ticed at Blairsville, that county, until 1881, when he accepted a clerical position with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Altoona, which he held for four years. He then resumed the practice of his profession, was admitted, in October, 1885, to practice in the courts of Blair county and before the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and has continued to practice successfully at Altoona ever since. In 1886 Mr. Clark engaged in
publishing city directories, and has issued first-class directories for Altoona and Johns- town ever since. In 1888 he published a directory of Beaver Falls and the lower Beaver valley, and has now purchased print- ing presses for the purpose of doing his own printing in the directory business, in which he has been very successful. He is a re- publican in politics, and an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he is a liberal contributor.
On December 13, 1877, Mr. Clark was united in marriage with Hallie I. Johnson, daughter of Michael Johnson, of Westmore- land county. Their union was blessed with two children: Nellie, now thirteen years old; and Stella Mabel, who died at the age of four years. Mr. Clark is now a widower.
L IEUT .- COL. WILLIAM A. McDER-
MITT, the present postmaster of the borough of Bellwood, and a brave and vet- eran officer of the Army of the Potomac, is a son of John and Sarah (Wharton) Me- Dermitt, and was born at Ebensburg, the county seat of Cambria county, Pennsyl- vania, October 5, 1837. ITis paternal grand- father, Augustine MeDermitt, was born near the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, and at an early age removed to Lorretto, Cambria county. He resided there for several years, and then passed the remainder of his days on a farm near Sum- mittville, in that county. He was a farmer by occupation, had served as a soldier in the revolutionary war, and married Polly Weakland. ITis sons, Captain Charles, Lieutenant Barnabas, and Frank, served in the Mexican war. Another son, John Me- Dermitt (father), was born at Ebensburg, where he was reared and received his edu-
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OF BLAIR COUNTY.
cation. He served as an engineer for many years on the old Portage railroad, and died at Summittville, Cambria county. He was a democrat in politics and a Catholic in re- ligion, and married Sarah Wharton, who was born in 1812, and is a daughter of Stanilaus Wharton, a revolutionary soldier and farmer, who was born within forty miles of Baltimore, and became one of the pioneer settlers of Lorretto. Mr. and Mrs. MeDermitt reared a family of seven chil- dren, three sons and four daughters. One of the sons, Demetrius, now of New Brighton, this State, served two years in a cavalry regiment during the late civil war.
William A. McDermitt grew to manhood in his native county, where he received his education in the early common schools of Pennsylvania. Leaving school he learned stair making, which he followed until the breaking out of the late civil war. After the defeat of the Federal forces at Bull Run, which indicated the certainty of a long and bloody contest for the restoration of the Union, he was among the first to respond to his country's call for troops. Hle enlisted on August 10, 1861, as a private in Co. I, 54th Pennsylvania infantry, was success- ively promoted to. corporal, sergeant, and and lieutenant, and on December 19, 1864, was commissioned captain. He served with Co. I until February 19, 1865, when he was given command of Co. II, which was shortly afterward changed in name to Co. C, upon the reorganization of the regiment. On April 2, 1865-the day on which Peters- burg fell, and rendered hopeless the cause of the Southern Confederacy-he was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel, and served as such until the 31st of May, 1865, when he was honorably discharged from the service at Washington, D. C. He served in the
Army of the Potomac, and participated in all the skirmishes and battles of his regi- ment, which bore well its part from the bloody field of Antietam to the fall of Rich- mond. He was in the very hottest of the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness. He was detached under Sher- idan, and fought at Winchester and Fisher's Hill. After the war Colonel MeDermitt returned to Cambria county, where he was engaged in contracting in the stair building business, and during fifteen years of that time, in addition to contracting, acted as foreman of several portable steam saw mills of a lumber company then operating in Cam- bria and Blair counties. In 1880 he came to Bellwood, where he has ever since resided.
On June 13, 1865, Colonel MeDermitt married Mary, daughter of George Glass, of Johnstown, Cambria county, whose five sons- Andrew, George, Jacob, James, and John-served as Union soldiers in the late war. Colonel and Mrs. MeDermitt have five children, four sons and one daughter: George, John, Wilfred, Edgar, and Annie.
Colonel MeDermitt is a republican in, politics, served one term as justice of the peace in Dean township, Cambria county, and several as school director in this county, and on June 4, 1890, was appointed by President Harrison as postmaster of Bell- wood, which is now a presidential office with a salary of one thousand dollars per year. Ile is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church; Sandford Beyer Post, No. 426, Grand Army of the Republic; and Camp No. 17, Union Veteran Legion. In every position in civil and military life in which he has been placed, Col. William A. MeDermitt has been active and efficient, and thus has made for himself a useful and honorable record.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
W ILLIAM LOUDON, a director of the
Clearfield & Northwestern railroad, and the principal founder of the prosperous vil- lage of Juniata, in Logan township, is a son of William, sr., and Sarah ( Matthews ) Lou- don, and was born in what is now Logan township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1826. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Loudon, was a native of Ireland, settled in eastern Pennsylvania, and served in the rev- olutionary war. After peace was declared, in 1783, he removed from Lebanon to Etna Furnace, and from thence to Huntingdon county, where he died. His son, William Loudon, sr. (father), was born June 27, 1792, and died January 2, 1864. In 1838 he purchased of Eli Hastings a tract of two hundred and four acres of land, upon a part of which is built the western part of the the Fifth ward of Altoona, which was known as Loudonsville, until the incorporation of the city in 1868. He laid out his farm in lots, sold the first lot, in 1849, to Adlum & Irvin, and other lots successively until his heirs to-day own but a very small part of his farm. He married Sarah Matthews, a daughter of Abraham Matthews, of Logan township, who was born February 26, 1796. Mr. and Mrs. Loudon had nine children, eight sons and one daughter: Thomas, who married Jane McCauley ; Margaret ; James; Jolm, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; William; Abraham, who mar- ried Margaret Beal, and died July 20, 1872; David M., who married Elizabeth Shinefelt; George M., who died December 25, 1862; and Elias, whose death occurred February 1, 1843.
William Loudon was reared on his father's farın, received his education in the common schools, and in early life was engaged for a few years in chopping wood and making
charcoal. After this he was engaged in farming until 1857, when he joined in the tide of emigration that was pouring west- ward of the Mississippi river. He spent two years in farming in Nebraska, and then, in the spring of 1859, went into southern Colorado, where he was engaged in gold min- ing for four years. At the end of that time he returned to Logan township, where he has followed farming ever since.
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